Eden, John R.

Born: 1826-02-01 Bath County, Kentucky

Died: 1909-06-09 Sullivan, Illinois

John R. Eden was a farmer, teacher, attorney, congressman, and Democrat. In 1831, his family relocated to Rush County, Indiana. His father died five years later, leaving the family in diminished circumstances. Eden worked the family farm during the summer and attended school in the winter. At age eighteen, he began teaching school. In 1850, determined to become an attorney, he began studying law with Bigger & Logan in Rushville, Indiana. In 1852, he moved to Shelbyville, Illinois and, shortly after, he earned admission to the bar and began practicing law. Ill health prompted him to move, in August of 1853, to Sullivan, Illinois, where his brother also lived. In 1856, he married Roxana Meeker, with whom he had at least six children. The same year, he became prosecuting attorney for the Seventeenth Judicial District of Illinois, serving until 1860. By then, he owned personal and real property worth nearly $6,000. In 1862, voters in Illinois’ Seventh Congressional District elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives. While in office, he supported measures to defeat the Confederacy. After losing his congressional seat in 1864 he resumed his law practice.

Combined History of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink & McDonough, 1881), 186-87; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Moultrie County, 7 August 1856, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Sullivan, Moultrie County, IL, 24; U.S. Census Office, Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Macon County, IL, 39; U.S. Census Office, Tenth Census of the United States (1880), Sullivan, Moultrie County, IL, 24; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1949 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1950), 282; Gravestone, Greenhill Cemetery, Sullivan, IL.